A Faith Boost

I recently found myself getting very frustrated with, well, myself, over what appeared to me to be a lack of faith. A repeated ailment had me annoyed that my prayers seemed to have hit an unanswered ceiling, and so, I’m a bit ashamed to admit, I stopped praying for this one ailment altogether. A little (oddly dark) voice in the back of my head would root me on, “Why pray about this again? You know it’s done no good so far.”

I tried to press past it. I tried to pray anyway, and yet found that when I did, my prayers were severely lacking in…juice? Oomph? Alright, so these aren’t very definitive or certainly very spiritual words, but what I was feeling was that I already had a negative answer before I even uttered the prayer request. I went in defeated, feeling like it was more of a tradition or formality to actually say the prayer, because I already knew what the answer would be: No.

Then one night, something changed. I begin to praise God and asked Him, in sincere repentance, to help my disbelief. I felt His peace begin to surround me, a sure sign of His beautiful presence being near. And suddenly, my faith felt strong. I began to ask God for the things I had been reluctant to ask Him for previously, because His presence around me was making me feel full of faith.

It was in that moment that I realized something: It is only in God’s presence that I will ever be able to function in the faith I crave. In and of myself, I don’t have the faith to believe for the impossible or to ask for what I feel is unattainable. And that’s okay. I don’t have to beat myself up for what I lack, because it has always been His plan to supply me with the things I need:

You who are trying to be justified by law have been alienated from Christ; you have fallen away from grace. But by faith we eagerly await through the Spirit the righteousness for which we hope.

– Galatians 5:4,5

There’s a reason the gifts of love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, self-control, gentleness, and faith are called the fruits of the Spirit.  We have to be “of the Spirit” to even be able to access these things. That’s why I felt a surge of faith when I was surrounded by the presence of God vs. a feeling of frustration on my own.

Today, tap into the amazing unlimited resource that God’s presence is. He has what you need. Let Him provide it.